The Padres placed starter Nestor Cortes on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to September 4, with a biceps strain. San Diego recalled reliever Ron Marinaccio to provide an extra bullpen arm for tonight’s game in Colorado. It might be a one-day MLB stint. Righty Randy Vásquez joined the team at Coors Field and told reporters (including Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune) that he’ll be recalled to start Saturday’s game.
It continues a rough season for Cortes, whom the Friars acquired from the Brewers at the trade deadline. The lefty’s Milwaukee tenure consisted of two starts and eight runs allowed in as many innings. He then suffered a flexor strain that cost him four months. By the time he was ready to return right around the deadline, the Brewers had six or seven better starting pitchers. They traded Cortes to San Diego, who activated him from the IL on August 3.
Things haven’t gone well through six starts. Cortes carries a 5.47 earned run average through 26 1/3 innings. His strikeout, walk and home run rates are all poor. Cortes has managed one strong start, tossing six scoreless innings to beat the Dodgers on August 23. That’s the only time he’s completed six frames with the Padres. He had his worst outing on Wednesday, giving up four homers and six runs without escaping the third inning against Baltimore.
San Diego acquired Cortes and JP Sears at the deadline in an effort to stabilize the back of the rotation. That became increasingly important when they packaged Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek to Kansas City for catcher Freddy Fermin. Neither addition has worked out so far, as Sears has given up nine earned runs in 14 2/3 frames over his first three starts.
The Padres quickly optioned Sears to Triple-A. He apparently has fallen behind Vásquez on the depth chart, as the Friars elected to call up the righty. Sears is scheduled to start tonight in the minors, which would indicate he’s not in the mix to start on Tuesday in what would have been Cortes’ rotation spot. (San Diego relied on a bullpen game the last time they would have needed a fifth starter.) They may be targeting that day for Michael King to return from the injured list. Manager Mike Shildt told 93.7 The Fan that King threw five innings in a scrimmage at the team’s Arizona complex yesterday. Shildt did not commit to a date for the righty’s reinstatement.
Oh no whatever will they do
Keep losing.
Cortes and his spouse had a child last April, but he’s still an empty Nestor.
As joke is bad.
I didn’t know you could strain fat
What the heck is going on with Michael King?
Will probably be activated when Cortes’ spot comes back around on Tuesday
Keeping him on the IL this long when the Padres are in a serious tailspin
is not good news and leads me to believe that King may be out for the season.
The Padres rotation and hitting used to be their strength along with the bullpen, but not lately.
Neither the Padres Nor the Dodgers are playing like they want to win the Division and go deep into the playoffs.
If the poor play by both the Padres and the Dodgers continues, then the balance of power in the NL shifts to the NL Central and NL East.
What happened to the power and hitting of: Tatis Jr, Merrill, Bogaerts, Cronenworth etc?!
A bunch of the Padres hitters need to step it up or get ready for 2026 because their play of late is bad…
The balance of power settled in Milwaukee six weeks ago.
There goes the playoffs for SD.
Nestor Cortes & Devin Williams have not been the same since they got put in their place during last year’s playoffs. Good thing the Brewers dumped both of them.
What Brewers pitchers will be put in their place this year?
@Mets Era Thumping Soto
There aren’t any good pitchers on the Brewers this year…
Old York
Freddy Peralta and Abner Uribe mock you
@MLB Top 100 Commenter
Sure, they’re better pitchers than me but that doesn’t say much…
This dude said an 87 win team does not have any good pitchers lmao.
@Jeremy320
In your opinion, who on the team is a ‘good’ pitcher?
Unfortunate news for the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series game 1 MVP.
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery, Nestor.
Good thing AJ traded Bergert and Kolek for a backup catcher LOL
Backup catcher is performing quite well. Bergert and Kolek may have #4 upside or they may turn out to be Cal Quantrill and Chris Paddock or Luis Patino or so far, Ryan Weathers.
Bergert has looked like Greg Maddux in KC
RB has a grand total of 13 starts in his career so let’s hold off on the comparisons to Greg or even Mike Maddux!
He has looked good so far but, 2024 he sucked in milb. Jury is still out but he has solid 4 upside if he stays healthy.
He was good depth on 2025 SD team that needed a huge boost at the C more than a 4/5 depth arm to try to get over the top.
The trade helped both teams so nothing wrong with that.
I followed his career since drafted as I do for all SD prospects. He was a hope for a 4 spot for the future but the 4 spot can be filled in free agency easy enough.
A solid young, cheap controllable C – not so easy to find in FA.
At 1.9 WAR so far in 2025 and solves a problem that was going to exist for 2026, it’s a fair trade.
Looking forward to see what Kolek can do tomorrow.
Both Bergert and Kolek were in the midst of “break out years: with the Padres.
Both have continued to pitch very well for the Royals.
It was not the right move to give up one or both of those proven major league starters who were having “breakout years” in San Diego for a 2nd string catcher, especially since the Padres rotation has been in flux all year with injuries (to King, Darvish and others and underperformance from Darvish, Cease and others
AJ Preller and the Padres gave up too much and destabilized their rotation for Fermin.
Bergert is pitching like a #1 or #2 Starter
In 13 starts with successful starts in both leagues this year.
Bergert is 2-1 with a 2.65 ERA
69 IP 65 Ks 1.087 WHIP .
Those are not the numbers of a #5 starter.
Kolek is 4-5 3.99 ERA 15 GS 85 IP 59 Ks 1.26 WHIP
I have seen the highlights and also see both of those pitchers pitch live and I was impressed.
The Padres Front Office should watch these guys pitch more and not rely too much on past stats.
Padres well regarded pitching coach Ruben Niebla works with the young pitchers and has had very good success helping them make adjustments and unlock peak performance from them.
They did the same with Nick Pivetta and Michael King.
Because of the addition of Bergert and Kolek, the Royals have surged to within 1 game of the last AL Wild Card
Kolek has 1 stert with KC – not really a big part of the surge.
“Royals have surged” – they are 5-5 in their last 10. More a product of Seattle going in the crapper than KC “surging”.
“padres pitching coach Rueben ….”
1. So, will any young pitcher traded away after 5-10 starts continue to flourish or will they go back to pre-Rueben?
2. If Rueben is the answer (and he is a lot of the times) then what’s the problem with just getting more such guys next year?
A rotation in 2026 will look something like this:
King (or similar guy via FA), Pivetta, Musgrove, Darvish and a middle of the road bounce back vet that AJ tends to find and well, let Rueben do his thing – possible Mason Miller in that mix.
Sears, Vazquez, etc are guys that will fill in.
Kolek and Bergert would have just been AAA guys depth pieces trying to crack a rotation.
Fermin is under control for 4 years and solves a problem in the line up.
Kolek and Bergert were what GM’s call expendable trade pieces.
If they weren’t traded in 25 they surely would have been in 26.
“Padres Front Office … not rely on past performance.”
1. Past performance is a great predictor of future performance.
2. My bet is that all front offices rely on trained professionals called scouts for their input as opposed to some random fan.
Kolek 2 starts for Royals
1-0 2.08 ERA 2.30 FIP
0.846 WHIP
O home runs allowed
Bergert has 7 solid starts for the Royals.
Both Bergert and Kolek have kept the Royals in every game they pitched and been a big improvement on the back of the Royals rotation.
Kolek has 4 1/2 years team/cost control.
Ryan Bergert has 3-4 years of low cost, team control.
So, Padres gave up #3 and #4 young starters with 7-8 years combined team control at low cost for a 2nd string back up catcher that no other team was bidding on?!
Don’t get me wrong, Freddie Freeman is a good, average backup catcher, But Preller and the Padres overpaid for him.
Now, their rotation had to rely on injury prone Nestor Cortes with 5+ ERA and/or JP Sears with a 5+ ERA. Bergerts and Kolek are better than both those guys.
Advantage Royals and Dodgers in that deal.
Your flaws:
They are hardly deserving of 3/4 designations based on 2 and 7 starts.
Fermin is hardly some “back up catcher” since he is approaching 3 WAR for the year – and was a back up on his former team.
Fermin is controlled for 4 years
Back of rotation is much easier to fill in FA than C.
As Salas develops, Fermin can be traded in 2027 for much more than what Kolek and Bergert are today.
Kolek and Bergert are depth pieces in 2026. Fermin starts 110 games behind plate.
Preller could have had similar production to Fermin by just signing catcher James McCann in June when his minor league contract opt out made him a free agent.
Fermin is decent, but not worth both Bergert and Kolek.
Preller could have still traded for Fermin and just substituted other promising, young Padres pitching. Preller/Padres overpaid for Fermin,
Padres would be better off with Bergert and Kolek than
with Nestor Cortez and JP Sears.
Bergert and Kolek both have top of the rotation potential.
SF – where do you get you information?
Do you know if McCann would have signed?
Do you have a source inside of KC organization that says they would have made the trade for lesser talent?
This isn’t fantasy league.
No, neither have TOR potential based on any reliable scouting data ever produced.
Again, where do you get this stuff?
Try thinking “outside the box”. Successful Player evaluations and trades take a lot more than just raw statistics.
Have you seen the Clint Eastwood movie “Trouble with the Curve”?! That movie about sums it up best. Young, Braves rising star scout with ambitions to be GM relied too heavily on statistics. Eastwood, playing an “old school scout” whose MO was Scouts/Teams had to “deep dive” into players, their background and their their motivations etc… to get the entire picture and evaluate players without missing out on “diamonds in the rough”
Eastwood, playing a seasoned veteran scout believed in seeing the players play, deep diving into family issues and the mental psyche of the players before making decisions.
On MLB Draft Day, Braves decisionmakers over ruled Eastwood’s recommendations to not draft the “can’t miss’ power hitting, top rate slugger in the first round of the MLB Draft. Braves did not listen to Veteran Scout and drafted based on the recommendation of hot shot, young scout who scouted mostly on his computer. He minimized scouting and other important factors in drafting players. Turns out the Braves used their 1st round draft pick on young stats guy’s recommendation signing him to a big bonus baby contract..
Then, the Braves find out that Eastwood was correct. The young phenom the Braves used up their 1st round draft pick could torch fastballs, But, he had trouble hitting breaking balls. Title of Movie is “Trouble With the Curve”.
Catcher McCann was looking to go to a playoffs bound team with a chance to make and win a World Series. The Padres have World Series ambitions this year. D-backs are only obligated to pay McCann major league minimum since McCann still has a larger contract being paid by I think the Mets?
No rumors/Stories that Padres had any interest in or pursued Catcher McCann even though he would have been a “good fit” to start or share catching duties.
McCann was available for major league ,minimu, Mets have his big
The point was not to add yet another 35+ year old C with little offensive production but rather to add a young controllable productive C for the next 4 years.
So much press on Cease and others for trades that did not happen. It would be interesting to find out the back stories for the McCann signing and the Fermin trade.
We agree – what isn’t known would be interesting to know.
I suspect: Cease – AJ didn’t get what he wanted or he would have traded him.
McCann – he isn’t the offense C they need to upgrade the 35 + group they had. Maybe JM wasn’t interested, maybe wanted too much – as a side note on the personalities involved in deals, ask yourself why is David Peralta sitting at home after his 2024?
No team wanted him? I doubt that. He wanted too much? He didn’t want to play?
The player personality/ decisions are almost never discussed and fans tend to overlook it isn’t fantasy league – they have a say.
He’s not hurt. They are putting him away. Been giving up to many runs lol
I wonder if it was his pride or confidence that got injured after that 4 homer outing.
The Padres will take the division.
30 days ago, that looked like a good call.
Both the Padres and the Dodgers are looking to
not win the Division the way they have been playing lately.
If King can pitch like the Michael King of 2024,
And if the Padres star players get hot and start hitting like they can
then it could happen.
I would agree with yet another post. I’m waiting on the stars getting hot for sure!
Same could be said for LAD though. That Muncy factor and all.
It’s going to be a fun 18 games.
Really, they both project to most likely hosting a WC round so, not a big deal other than bragging rights. For round 1. Yes, I think both overtake the Cubs for too WC.